EU countries also agreed to create national plans for organising the frequency reassignment.

While the commission had originally proposed that these plans should be ready by 30 June 2017, the compromise deal gives them until 30 June 2018.

Still, EU digital single market commissioner Andrus Ansip welcomed the deal on coordinating radio frequencies, referred to as radio spectrum in EU circles.

“Better spectrum coordination is vital to provide higher quality internet to all Europeans,” said Ansip.

"It paves the way for 5G, the next generation of communication networks, and the internet of things."

The spectrum rules were proposed by the commission in February, but were expected to face opposition because states see auctioning of bandwidth as a valuable resource, and they were wary that the commission would want that income.

The EU executive is trying to convince EU countries to commit to some coordination in the assignment of a specific set of radio frequencies, after it failed to garner support for broader, common rules.

The success of the new general data protection regulation (GDPR) will depend on whether data protection authorities enforce the new rules - which, in turn, will be at least partly determined by how many people they employ.